Time For Some Tinkering

Having access to most, if not all, of Cleff’s labs was a great thing. Not only did it give Koudo some place to do all his tinkering, but it made it so that he never had to go back to the same lab to do all his work in. Going to the Kingdom of Chaos once was enough for him and he wanted to make one of the other labs his home base. It wasn’t like he would take over the place completely, but he did want to go somewhere that was rarely used by Cleff so that all his experiments would be kept moderately secret, even though he knew Cleff had eyes and ears all over all his labs. The lucky lab that Koudo was using today was the lab on the Main Street of Ves, aptly named Cleff’s Base. It used to be the base of some other guy, that Koudo knew nothing about and so he figured that he would do all his research on the origins of the place, after he was done for today.

Koudo entered the lab, nothing jumping out at him since Cleff had made it so that Koudo, and whatever was with him, was free to enter and exit as they pleased. This was the case for all the other bases as well. Carrying a couple pieces of what looked to be scrap metal, the little robot, and having the female android lagging behind him with all the heavier equipment, Koudo roamed the inside of the Base before finding the perfect place that he could use for his own little lab within the largeness of the Base as a whole.

( Visual Aid To Be Added Eventually. )

“ This will do nicely. Alright Sai put everything over there by the computer and take this guy and place him on the table. I’ll fix him up later. First I have to make me some kind of communication system. Oh… and I have to set this up as well. “

Koudo told Sai as he tossed her the little robot, she didn’t talk since Koudo hadn’t installed a speech program into her and didn’t plan on installing one anytime soon since she was a machine of war at this point. He pointed to the computer before pointing to the table right after. Sai did as she was told, quickly, before walking to the computer as well and eying it. Koudo eyed it as well, but was unimpressed by the size, since he wanted and would eventually need something bigger. Sai smiled though, she liked the size it was perfect for someone that was just starting out with this technology type stuff, someone like Koudo. It was a good thing that she couldn’t talk.

Koudo walked to the computer and blew on the massiveness of the keyboard, cleaning the dust from it before having a seat, in a fairly new seat, and running his hands along the keyboard. There was a moment of pure bliss, and his face showed this since he was smiling like a child on Christmas getting exactly what they wanted. This reminded him that he had received a robot from Epic Santa when he visited Ves. Koudo just wasn’t sure what he, himself, had done with the nice piece of machinery, it was no Sai, but it looked pretty capable. Koudo would have to look for it later, cause for right now he needed a moment alone in the place that he was going to call home for a very long time.

Priere had been back from the Dusk Village, just getting a nice, fresh supply of Cactus Water and Cactus Juice for her supply. She really liked cacti now. She was feeling rather good about herself and decided to wander around, her wandering bringing her to this... place.

"... Ew. What a dump. I wanna blow it up."

Though she instinctively thought to blow it up, she paused... realizing that she could just as easily LOOT first, then destroy the evidence later.

"Heh heh heeeeeh!"

She immediately floated inside. It seemed to be abandoned for some time, actually... Or... Previously abandoned. She noticed someone on a large computer in the distance.

"... Who in the hell? Had the same idea of looting, huh?! Well, sorry, but you're gonna have to give me everything. Don't resist, it'll just make things harder for you."

That voice... it was familiar. Before Koudo could even get comfortable, Sai had lock-on to someone being in the general vicinity of her new owner and alerted him with none other than, a louder than need, alarm. Koudo looked up and quieted her down before turning around in the chair. Surprised by the person there.

" You... "

It was Priere, the girl that he had battled before he had taken his exam and then the same girl he watched fight Vessel before Koudo had gone to Cleff and gained access to the lab that he was sitting in and relaxing in right now. Koudo sighed and rubbed his eyes with his index finger and thumb.

" Seems we're going to keep running into one another. So... what brings you to my new lab? "

Koudo asked, signaling for Sai to calm down, though she ignored the command. She was a defensive type of android. Koudo had modified her to be so, that was the only hardware modification that he had made to Cleff's otherwise perfect work. Sai never attacked unless she felt threatened and well Priere was threatening to her, even though Koudo spoke in such a friendly tone. Friendly for him anyway.

Priere immediately sneered at the robot's noise, conjuring up some magic in case she needed to.... Silence it.

"UGH! Can you turn that insidious thing off? I'm gonna break it to pieces if it doesn't stop NOW!"

Of course, Priere was the 'I say what I mean' types and definitely would have at that robot if the noise did not stop. However, she did MANAGE to talk over the noise.

"... Shit, I was here to loot... This place looked abandoned and stuff so I came to... Get my fair share, ya know? What about YOU? You already take this place up as your own?"

Koudo looked to Sai, before snapping his fingers and placing one to her back, her back shining blue and silver before the aura faded back into Koudo's finger and she quieted down... severely. Koudo looked back to Priere, waving his hand to Sai and then leaning back in the chair.

" Better for you? And I'm here because I plan to use this place as a base for my tinkering. Building, altering, and enhancing robotics and other kinds of Machines. "

Koudo explained before crossing one leg over the other and placing his hand back to Sai's back and reworking her insides a little without opening her up. In the short time he had been with her, he had researched her insides and outsides and made it so that he could rework her without opening her with only his Infestation and that was what he was doing now. Her alarm had stopped and she was calm, almost happy again.

" You want in? I was just about to start building a communications system between me, my computer, Sai when I give her speech capabilities, the little robot on the table, and whatever the hell else I finally build once I.... dust this place off. "

Priere considered herself a loner and definitely wasn't all fond of the idea of any type of communication between anyone except for Signis and Blue... But, then again, they hadn't given her any opinions on anything in quite a while. Maybe they were trying to let her make decisions for herself? Hm. Maybe. Signis was being too quiet these days. But.. It was better to have connections, she figured.

"... Hmph. Yeah, I guess. Why the hell not? Hook me up, then."

She wondered if this was the best decision. She didn't even LIKE males in general, so why was she not trashing his place? Maybe because he was also a loner. He didn't seem to.. conform like all the rest. Plus, he was interesting... And perhaps he would provide her with better spars than most others. Heh.

Koudo's ever apparent smirk showed itself before he turned around quickly in the chair and faced the computer.

" Excellent... "

he stated before cracking his knuckles and allowing his silver and blue aura to flood from his hands and cover the keyboard in front of him. The computer whirled to life quickly and Koudo looked up at the screen before starting to go to work as he had planned. The computer activated most, if not all, of the other machinery inside the base and well it seemed like the base was completely and utterly under Koudo's control for the time being. Though he was only a chuunin, he was gifted with his kekkai genkai and could stretch it to its very limits before he tired himself out completely, this wasn't the limit of his power.

" So, I've done research and what I plan to create isn't original... Aeon has one as well. A PET, that stands for PErsonal Terminal. The PET is a multipurpose device that is capable of acting in numerous functions, such as sending and receiving e-mail, acting as an alarm clock and calendar, and acting as a cell phone. I plan to make you one.... but I'll also have to make NetNavis for them. Herein lies the problem, you see a NetNavi is a sentient, or semi-sentient, computer program with artificial intelligence designed to be an assistant for the operator and resides in his or her PET. Each of the functions I listed earlier is controlled by the NetNavi that resides within the PET under normal circumstances. But I haven't researched the topic enough to create these sentient beings. So... "

Koudo whipped around in the chair to see if he still had her attention before whipping back around and continuing to work on the keyboard, hoping to bring up a schematic of what the P.E.T. would look like in it's earliest stages of development.

" I'll be only making Sub-PET's for us since those can function without a NetNavi. We can still do all the same things, but without the little person on the inside keeping you company when you're lonely. You following me Priere? "

Koudo asked looking over his shoulder.

Priere nodded her head, understanding what he said of course... But she kinda started to tune him out because she didn't like too much chatter.

"Yeah, yeah, uh huh... But uh, couldn't that Aeon guy or the original owner of this place give you a NetNavi or whatever?"

" That is a theory.. that I pondered but... "

Koudo turned in the chair quickly and looked her in the eyes, with a very serious look to his.

" Would you make your own jutsu, even though they might suck, and train so that they get better with little to no help from others that are better than you? Or would you rather have power handed to you, and you never figure things out on your own? I'm one for the first option, I will take input from the people that are above me and do the same as me... but I will not be spoon fed by them and given their handmedowns. Sai doesn't count. She's all mine. "

Koudo said before whipping back around and going back to work on the PETs.

" If you want... you could wait until I develop the NetNavis and then come back for your PET. By then, I should have a very interesting new friend for you. If this goes well... I might introduce the idea to the Kage of my village, something to replace the Chao that no one ever cared to figure out because everyone wants a Soul partner. If it doesn't go over well, then we'll be the only ones with PET and that'll make us so much more bad ass once I develop something I like to call "Battle chips" and "Synchro Chips". "

Koudo leaned back and stretched, ready for the long haul since this was something that he was passionate about creating for himself. When he had something that he wanted to do, then that was it. He would do it, without getting distracted and focusing on something else. It was a bless and a curse really. He looked up at the computer screen before looking around at all the machinery moving about, this was his element and he felt so at home here. Maybe this was why Cross was always in his lab, and Cleff never actually left his lab in the Kingdom of Chaos. Being amongst your element felt the very best, he was sure Priere felt the same way when she was around ice. Koudo would have to make the place resemble him a little more, other than Cleff, and once that was done then he could finally call it his.

" So... how'd you make your ice so strong and resistant to fire? Train at a volcano or something? "

Priere definitely agreed that it was better to train your crappy abilities to become great rather than have power handed down to you. She was in the process of doing that right now... She needed to live up to 3 goals... To become the master of Insangels, to live up to the sorcerer lineage she came from to reach her MAX potential, and to allow Signis and Blue to become as powerful as they were before.

"Yeah... That's true. I like the way you think."

Somehow, she felt like the NetNavi's had been done before... Where did she see it...? Oh well. Whatever. Didn't matter.

"Oh, my ice? Hahaha. Yeah, threw some in a volcano and upheld it in lava. I did the same thing in the desert. I need to figure out what to do next for my training to make it even better... One day, I'm going to freeze that ENTIRE volcano and keep it as a trophy. Heh heh heh..."

She wanted that day to come soon.. She reaaally wanted that volcano.

Koudo started putting the finishing touches on the schematics of the early PETs and brought it up on screen for her to see.



" There it is. This will be something like what ours will look like. Of course the color scheme situation is gonna be a little off but after a little bit of practice, you can come back and I'll have a completely new one for you that will probably look a little like this one here. "

Of course Koudo had prepared a schematic for the next generation PETs that he planned to make. Of course only him and Priere would have them for now and maybe one of the higher ups if they wanted one, like his Kage, but other than that no one would have on. As for the NetNavi situation, he would have to try and request an audience with Aeon, or Cleff to see if they could give him a little bit of help, just a little bit. He brought up and design of the newer models, but had already put the production of the earlier models into place and they were starting to be cranked out.



" With you... it seems possible with the right motivation. Guess that means that my water jutsu won't do anything against you at all... fine, I have a new style of fighting in production as we speak now.... I can already see the ending. "

Koudo's smirk was even more apparent now as he stood from his chair and placed his hands to the keyboard one last time and pressed a couple of keys before looking at her.

" Tell me... what are you exactly? A witch? "

Priere gave a look over the PET... Odd... It really did seem familiar... She never had met Aeon, but she knew she'd seen this PET and some other junk Koudo was talking about before... Yet, she couldn't put her finger on it just yet. She should probably just not worry about it.

"... Yeah, the newer one looks way better."

She flipped her hair, scoffing at the model Koudo just made. Though, with all of the functions he said it had, it was pretty impressive, she guessed. She wasn't too fond of all of this boring computer stuff, but Koudo seemed... Interested in her. This was apparent as he asked her questions and confirmed when he asked what she was. She only started to chuckle just slightly, shaking her head slowly.

"... What am I? Hmhmhm... I'm a whole new type of supernatural being, guy. Three entities combined into one. I used to be merely a human sorceress that came from a line of GREAT mages and sorceresses before me... My mother and father were one of the greatest... And from a very young age, I was forced to embrace my magical power and learn the art of the family's prized elements; Water and Ice magic. Which, of course, I am pretty proficient in."

She conjured up some water in one hand, then ice in the other, juggling them between hands before finally snapping her fingers and dissipating them both.

"But uh, yeah, at the same time, these two bastards inside of me... Signis and Blue... Came along trying to kill me, from what I remember. Blue possessed my body because she wanted my soul, and she succeeded... But soon Signis was sent down to purge her from my body. Instead, she tried to force possess me while Blue was already within, and somehow the combination of our bodies, minds and souls fused together and created one entity.... The Insangel."

She paused.

"... But... Because of all this excess energy and emotion and shit shared between the three of us, we're all kinda... twisted now. We're all fucking insane, but Signis has technically 'fallen from grace' and is now on conquest to do nothing but cause bloodshed... Blue has become more calm and less ruthless... And I have deviated from the sweet little innocent soul I was once supposed to be... HAAAHAHAHAHAHA!"

Priere sighed. She didn't know why she told him all of this.. Normally, she'd say something like 'Mind your damn business' or something along those lines. Hm. Whatever. But seriously, why weren't Signis and Blu-- .. Okay, Signis saying anything about anything? Priere didn't like it when they-- she was so silent... It was creepy.

Koudo turned on his heels and looked at the computer before typing a few things down fairly quickly, and by a few things he meant everything that she had just told him and then a little side notes that he had realized about her from the fight he had watched with her and Vessel. This was perfect, all so very perfect. He opened a new file and started to put down a whole bunch of things about the other people he had researched and watched in battle, the other people that he was interested in knowing more about, before giving every single last file a good final stamp by encrypting them with around 50 encryption codes, a novice level encryption if you asked him but whatever.

" I see... I see. Welp, you're PET is ready, try not to gloat about this old model too much to people. When you get the new one, then you can gloat since me and you will probably have the only ones. I planned to share this with my Kage one day... but I decided against it. This is gonna be my lab fully one day, and my secrets should remain my secrets, right? "

Koudo asked, inputting a few more codes, before a robotic arm lowered itself from the ceiling with the PET in its hand to give to her. Sai, who hadn't moved since Koudo had tampered with inner workings the second time, sprung to life and walked over to the table with the little robot guy and opened him up before she started to do her own little experimenting on him, at Koudo's request of course though it was a silent request. The robotic arm moved, after Priere took her PET and stopped in front of Koudo, handing him the second of the two older models of the device. Koudo looked it over, inspecting the craftsmanship and everything. It could look a little slicker and cooler, but all that would come with practice. All and all, it was pretty good for his first try, very polished indeed. The only difference between his and hers was the little emblem on the lower right corner of the device, it was missing on hers.

" Before you can turn it on, you'll need an emblem symbol. I wanted to make one for you, but that should be left to you. Just think about it and it should show up in the lower right corner. Then, when the new ones are finished I can just update this one and your emblem will be transferred over. "

Koudo explained.

"Eh? Fine, fine, whatever."

She was a gloater no matter what. She already knew he was typing shit about her in his computer, but she wasn't too worried. If worse came to worst, Signis could always send these electronics for a loop with her holy lightning... Or mental waves or something. Heh heh. Or, even better. Priere's water could short circuit them, making them useless. Hahaha. But let's not think of that.

She grabbed her PET and naturally, as Koudo said, thought about the emblem. One appeared. Sweet. Lack of creativity!

"Alright, now what?"

" Now we test them... They're touch screen so... "

Koudo's speech trailed off for a little bit before he started to press the screen, going through everything and finding out everything before looking up at her and nodding his head.

" You should receive an e-mail from me about... "

Before he said now, her device would make a generic ass ring before it appeared that she had a message from Koudo. All she had to do what press the notification and the message would pop up. He wasn't a very good explainer, his mind was always in the right place, but when it came to explaining things to others, he lacked fully in that department. Rather than leave her in the dark though, he sent her a fully detailed description of ever function and how to work them in the mail. It was like an instruction manual.

" Yeah, explaining ain't my thing, besides their just like cell phones right now without the NetNavi. Once I develop those, we won't have to do anything since the NetNavi will handle it all. All we'll have to do is tell them what to do, now one thing that I will have to explain to you when I develop them are the battle chips... "

he waved his hand, telling her to forget about all of that for now. The one thing that he was thinking about was the fact that she was the first to be getting one from him. Did that make them allies or something like that? Koudo didn't need a team, and wasn't looking for one, but having an ally or two wouldn't hurt.

" So... allies? Not like we have to be everywhere at the same time or anything... in fact i plan to spend a lot of time here for the time being. But if you happen to be in a tight spot... I'll come and help you out. "

Priere started playing with the little PET, when suddenly it started ringing. She opened up the e-mail from Koudo, then sighed.

"... An instruction manual? Shit, what is this, a tutorial to a cybernetic handheld game or something...?"

Though the instruction manual was pretty appreciated. She wouldn't get anywhere without it. But by then Koudo was rambling on about battle chips and whatnot... And she KNEW she'd seen them somewhere before... But where? Crap. Whatever.

"Huh. Allies? I'd prefer servants, but.. Until I can get power to have servants, allies will do. I'll come for you in a jam, too, guy. Oh, but speaking of gaining power... What the hell should I do next for my training...? Usually Signis tells me, but her ass is being... Bleh."

She really wanted to expand her power. She kinda... Needed to increase her power ASAP.

Koudo walked to the computer and placed the PET down and started to type once more, noting down certain things about Priere's personality now and also things about the PET before he opened something else up... it looked like a map.

" Well... it all depends on how you want your power to develop. I talked earlier about making up your own crappy attacks and improving them with little to no help from someone higher than you... but this is one of those times that you could go to them for help. I say try to find someone else that can use... magic, and ask them if they can point you in the direction of this woman here. "

Koudo brought up a picture. These were from Cleff's old files no less, he knew everything and he hadn't wiped the hard drives of the computers in this place, it looked like all he did was encrypt them with hella levels of encryption, Koudo had another project to work on while he was here. That aside, he brought up a picture of the head witch... Zita was it? That was all he knew about her, nothing on her personality or anything.. yet, but when the files were cracked he would know and contact Priere about it.

" Zita... the head witch. She should be able to help you with the expansion of your power. I know nothing about her except that her house seems to always be empty nowadays, save for her, I'm sure she'll be willing to help you, even though you aren't a witch technically. "

Priere sighed heavily, as she didn't want to receive any sort of help from anyone, except for Signis and Blue, for she figured that was all she needed. Yeah, she was stubborn.

"I don't WANT to ask anyone higher than me. I am perfectly capable by myself. Hmph. I just want to know what some flaws I have are and how to make them better! I'm pretty proficient with magic as-is. It's in my lineage, you know!"

With or without help, Priere knew that she was going to be very skilled with magic, as she came from two prodigies. She crossed her arms and huffed, poking out her lip, thinking.

" Hold it, hold it. Asking her can't be a bad thing. At least think about it, I mean she could tell you a few things about yourself that you didn't even now. She might even be able to help you with figuring out why Signis hasn't been talking to you as much as you would like. Think of her as a Therapist, instead of the Head Witch. "

Koudo said before closing the file and turning to face her. Sai, stopped working on the little robot and looked up at Koudo and Priere, before going back to working on the little robot.

" I could go with you, I need to do a little more research on magic users anyway and what better way to do that than to see two in the same place. "

He was only offering this suggestion so that he could get his research done and input everything into his newfound glory, the computer. Of course, he would come back immediately after that and start to work on the files and the PETs and Sai and the little robot and and and... he was going to run himself ragged before he learned that he wasn't as good as he thought he was. he noticed that since he had been doing all of this, he had been practicing less and less with his Taijutsu and his soul partners. He actually had no idea where they were, it was fine. He would get back to training very soon.

" After we go see her, we can have a rematch battle. I might be a little much for you to handle now. Sure your ice is fire resistant, but my taijutsu is topnotch as always. "

Priere thought long and hard on the matter, coming to a conclusion after some time of deep thought. She smiled.

"How about this; We have our rematch first, and if I win, I don't see the witch, but if I lose, we do?"

Koudo cracked his knuckles and pounded his fist into the palm of his hand.

" Sounds like a plan then. It won't end like last time... I've been meaning to try some things that I've been working on out.... Machine Release. "

That was the only clue that he was giving her, other than that she would have to just deal with his Taijutsu and this... mysterious Machine Release. Koudo quite liked the name actually, he was pretty sure that it was completely original to him, something that he would only be able to do once he mastered it. Here's hoping anyway.

Priere knew he'd be up for it, and that's precisely why she asked. She smirked devilishly, giggling just a tiny bit to herself.

"Well, I know Signis and Blue won't be coming out during our battle. It'll just be you and me, guy!"

She folded her arms and began to laugh hautily.

"So... Where you wanna go? It's getting warmer outside, so I guess I won't have the home-field advantage anymore."

" True... the temperature outside is increasing by a substantial amount, but that doesn't actually effect you at all since it's about to be the rainy season and the ground will be flooded with water. "

Koudo explained in a very scientific voice, before he shrugged and looked around. It wouldn't be very good for them to fight here because he technically had the home field advantage. having his infestation running through out the place would help him bend the battle in his favor, by doing little things to distract her. Koudo wanted a nice, clean fight believe it or not. As for outside, just because it was getting hotter didn't mean fucking anything since she had trained at a volcano and in the desert. Her ice wouldn't be affected by the sun at all. Koudo wasn't a fool, he knew this.

" We need a place where neither one of us will have an advantage... some place where we can really test each others strength. After a fight like this, we both should be ready to move to the next level of progress. "

Priere nodded, thinking about the situation.

"Yeah, but I don't know any places we can fight...?"

She really, truly didn't.

" I'm feeling a graveyard type of vibe myself. "

Koudo told her honestly before looking to Sai and pulsing his Infestation Energy through the floor and too her, he changed her programming a little so that she was on security alert. He released the hold he had on Sai, but the reprogramming stayed the same as she went back to went back to working on the little robot on the table. By the time his battle with Priere was finished, the robot would be completely modded and Koudo could do what he planned to do with it.

" Graveyard sound good to you? "